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Monday, January 7, 2013

It's no secret that I love Miles Morales. I've devoted a My Heroes article to the boy and named him the Best Superhero of 2012. Today we'll be revisiting Miles' life now that I've finally read through volume two of his adventures. In short: it's still one of the best superhero books out there and you should really be following the series. Read on to figure out why I think that.

First off the issues featured in volume two can amount to two arcs: Miles learning to be a superhero and his Uncle Aaron (the Ultimate Marvel Universe's Prowler) going up against a seemingly indestructible Mexican gangster called the Scorpion. Upon seeing a headline of new Spider-Man appearing in New York, Aaron escapes from a Mexican jail to talk to Miles since he was there when Miles was bitten by Spider # 42. The Scorpion follows Aaron to New York and has a thirst for the Prowler's blood and a desire to become the Big Apple's new kingpin. In desperate need of help, Aaron decides to look towards family . Specifically, family that can crawl up walls. It's an engrossing plot, sticking Miles at a crossroads of what to do with his great power and what kind man he will become.

The art is damn near excellent all around. Chris Samnee does the art for issues six and seven, and he gives the whole thing a more old school/Darwyn Cooke feel than Sarah Pichelli. But Pichelli really shows how beautiful comic book art can be. The fight scene in issue ten between Miles and Aaron is probably the highlight of the whole book for me, followed closely by issue nine's Prowler/Scorpion + thugs brawl and page thirteen of issue eight, where Miles has the same pensive expression one his face for the four panels and Pichelli makes it work thanks to her attention to background details showing the passing of a day. Pichelli really brings her A game to the book, and I suspect her of becoming a superstar artist in the near future if she's not already.

Lastly, the cast is probably the best in new blood in the industry right now. I've already heaped enough love onto the new friendly neighborhood wall crawler, so let's focus on the supporting cast. Miles' father Jefferson and best friend Ganke are at the very least two dimensional (if not three dimensional) characters thanks to Brian Michael Bendis' writing and characterization. Aaron is an interesting rogue element n Miles' life and the Scorpion really does give off an air of a force to be reckoned with. Rio Morales, Miles' mother, gets the short end of the stick being only the loving mother but she's still likable and decently fleshed out enough to be a character worth reading about.

Like I sad before, this is one of the best superhero books out there. Buy 'em.Read 'em. Love 'em.

1 comment:

I guess it goes to show my knowledge of comics when I'm just now realizing that there's a new Spidey in town besides Peter Parker. Ah, the woes of being ignorant of canon...

Well, whatever. I don't know much about this Miles Morales, but now I'm compelled to learn a bit more about him. Although, honestly? A black and red suit almost makes him look like a villain...but you didn't hear that from me.